


Waiting in the Sky

by scorperion21



Category: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Love Confession, M/M, meteor shower, pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2019-05-14
Packaged: 2020-03-05 09:36:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18826015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scorperion21/pseuds/scorperion21
Summary: Three things Albus Potter knows about Scorpius Malfoy, and two things he realises.(Or: Scorpius asks Albus to watch a meteor shower, but Albus is more preoccupied with watching Scorpius).





	Waiting in the Sky

Albus is cold. In fact, to be more specific, Albus thinks he is the coldest he has ever been in his whole life. It seems to have settled in his bones, and the shivers trembling through him are making him physically ache. He is also exhausted, uncomfortable, and can’t feel his legs below his knees. But wild Hippogriffs couldn’t keep him away from his rooftop tonight. Because no matter how cold, exhausted, and uncomfortable he is, the sheer joy and excitement on Scorpius’ face is enough to make him forget all of that.  

Albus  _lives_  for Scorpius’ happiness, because when Scorpius is happy, Albus is happy too. Scorpius is his best friend, in fact Scorpius is his best and  _only_  friend; although recently Albus has been harbouring some distinctly  _non_  platonic feelings for him. He doesn’t know when it happened, he just found himself noticing more and more things about Scorpius that made his heart flutter and his face flush and his tummy squirm but in a nice way. He thought that  _was_ friendship (after never having a friend who wasn’t related to him before, he was a bit confused as to what that might feel like) until he heard Teddy describing the way Victoire made  _him_  feel when they first met, and he realised that that was how he felt around Scorpius. And by then he was too far gone to try and stop the tidal wave of emotion that rolled over him every time he thought about Scorpius, or was close to him.  

Now, Albus thinks that he knows everything there is to possibly know about Scorpius. It’s hard not to, in fact, because Scorpius is the kind of person who shares everything about his life willingly and openly (although  _most_ willingly and  _most_  openly with Albus). The number one thing Albus (and everyone) knows about Scorpius is that he is a massive nerd. This is something Scorpius does not mind being called – well, not by Albus anyway, who is always fond and beaming when he lets that word fall from his lips. The second most important thing Albus is very much aware of when it comes to his best friend is that he is very much wrapped around Scorpius’ little finger. 

So, not surprising anyone, when Scorpius had shown up at the Potter’s house that evening brandishing an article about a meteor shower and asking Albus to join him in watching it, Albus was practically saying yes before Scorpius had even finishing asking the question.  

Albus had  _almost_  changed his mind when he realised that Scorpius wanted them to sit on the flat part of the roof outside Albus’ bedroom window together to watch it (“It’s the closest we’re going to get to the sky, Albus!”), and then again when Scorpius told him they would have to wake up at silly o’clock to watch it (“That’s when it’s going to arrive Albus, you can’t blame me for that!”).  

In fact, he had practically vetoed the idea when Harry had decided he would take the opportunity as a father/son/son’s best friend bonding moment (something he had been trying to force since the previous year when Albus finally convinced his parents that it  _wasn’t_ Scorpius’ fault they had jumped off a train to steal a time turner), and then Ginny said she would join them too so she could try out the new Muggle camera she had gotten for her birthday – but one look into his best friend’s pleading grey eyes was enough for the half-formed excuses to die in Albus’ throat. Which is why he is sat on his rooftop at 3am with his mum and his dad and his best friend, freezing his balls off.  

“Albus what time is it?” Scorpius asks him hurriedly, and Albus rolls his eyes, but fondly.  

“It’s about five minutes after the last time you asked me.” Albus teases, but obediently stretches his arm out towards Scorpius so he can see his watch. Scorpius’ cheeks flush and he claps his hands together in the way Albus knows means he is  _really_  excited.  

“Not long now!” Scorpius exclaims happily, turning his attention up to the stars.   

“You keep saying that!” Albus half-playfully grumbles. “And it hasn’t started yet!”   

“It’s not an exact time Albus, it’s just an estimate.” Scorpius explains, not taking his eyes off the sky.  

“Well I wish it would hurry up.” Albus  _knows_  he is grumbling now, and Scorpius seems to realise it too. He turns to look at him, his mouth down turned.   

“I thought you  _wanted_  to watch the meteors with me.” he looks so sad for a second Albus feels his heart squeeze. He finds a smile from somewhere.  

“I do, ignore me, I’m just cold and tired.” he says softly – although apparently not soft enough.  

“And whose fault is that?” Harry says, and Albus feels anger creep up his spine before he realises his dad is teasing him.   

“It’s the middle of August! I thought I wouldn’t need a blanket!” Albus exclaims; Scorpius, Ginny and Harry all have thick woollen blankets wrapped round their shoulders, while Albus is shivering in his hoodie and pyjama bottoms. Scorpius smiles knowingly, and then pulls out another blanket from the bag he had bought up onto the roof with him. He silently hands it over, and Albus accepts it gratefully.   

“Thank you.”  

 “It’s okay. I knew you’d get cold.” 

Albus smiles slightly as he wraps the blanket round his shoulders and huddles into the folds. This is the third thing he knows most about Scorpius – he is incredibly kind and generous, and would do absolutely anything for absolutely anyone.   

“Albus, what time-“ Scorpius begins, but he cuts himself off with a gasp when the first meteor streaks across the sky. A second one soon follows and Scorpius grabs Albus’ arm excitedly.  

“Albus, did you see it? Did you see it Albus?” Scorpius’ voice is breathy and delighted and Albus smiles at Scorpius’ joy.  

“Yeah I saw it Scorp.” his voice is soft as he turns his attention to his best friend. But Scorpius is still looking at the sky, his eyes so wide Albus can see the stars reflected in them, his mouth open ever so slightly, and then turning up into the biggest grin Albus can ever remember seeing.  

And then the fourth and fifth most obvious things there are to know about Scorpius Malfoy hit Albus like a ton of bricks. Number four: Scorpius is  _beautiful_. Albus has always thought Scorpius was handsome, with his cheekbones and his perfectly styled hair (Albus also likes it when it’s  _not_  perfectly styled, and is a bit messy from just waking up) and his legs that seem to go on for days, but he hasn’t ever taken the time to really  _look_  at Scorpius the way he is looking now. He has never wanted to get caught staring for too long, too embarrassed and scared of the reaction that that might elicit. But now he is allowing himself to stare, and the thumping in Albus’ heart has made him realise he really,  _really_ likes what he can see (he also expects it’s everything else about Scorpius that just adds up to how beautiful he is).  

Which leads him on to number five: he is absolutely, hopelessly in love with him. He can’t believe it has taken him so long to realise; he knew and had accepted long ago that his feelings were more than friendship but  _love_? Well that hadn’t crossed his mind before. And now it’s so painfully obvious he feels a bit of an idiot. He can hear the soft clicks of Ginny’s camera, and suddenly remembers where he is so reluctantly drags his eyes to the sky.   

“Albus look how many there are now!” Scorpius lets go of his arm to gesticulate wildly at the sky and Albus grins again as he watches the meteors. It really is a wonderful sight, and maybe just a little bit romantic?  

Albus feels his face flushing ever so slightly and his tummy doing that weird-but-nice squirm when Scorpius shuffles up a little closer to him to press their arms together, and rests his head on Albus’ shoulder.   

“It’s so magical isn’t it?” Scorpius whispers, and Albus glances across at Scorpius for a second, his heart swelling with what he realises now is love.   

“It is.” he agrees, and then a split second later wishes he hasn’t said anything as Scorpius lifts his head up.  

“I  _knew_  you’d like it!”   

They sit in relative silence now, only talking occasionally as Ginny takes more photos, watching the meteors streak through the sky. At some point, Scorpius rests his head back on Albus’ shoulder, and Albus hopes Scorpius can’t hear the thumping of his heart. After about an hour Albus can feels his eyes starting to close, and he keeps jerking his head up so he doesn’t fall asleep, not wanting Scorpius to think he is finding this boring.  

“Are you falling asleep Albus?” Ginny’s voice is teasing and Albus forces his eyes open again.  

“No.” he mumbles, moving his aching limbs, and Scorpius laughs.  

“Okay, I’ve seen enough now if you want to go back to bed.”   

“We can watch it until the end, I don’t mind.”  

“You know meteor showers can last  _hours_  right?”   

“Fuck that I wanna go to  _sleep_.” Albus whines before he can stop himself, but Harry, Ginny and Scorpius just laugh.   

“Come on.” Scorpius stands up and drags Albus with him by the hand, as Harry and Ginny both clamber back through Albus’ bedroom window. Albus follows them and bids them a whispered goodnight as they creep back to their own bedroom.   

“Albus?” Scorpius’ voice is whispered too, but urgent and Albus turns round immediately to see Scorpius still on the rooftop. Before Albus can question what’s wrong, Scorpius makes grabby hands at him and Albus has to refrain from squealing about how cute the gesture is. Instead, he promptly crosses the room and helps Scorpius climb through the window.   

“Thank you.”   

“S’alright.” Albus is so tired his words are coming out as a jumbled slur, and Scorpius smiles, playfully pushing Albus towards the bed. 

“Come on sleepy head, time for bed.” he says in a sing-song voice, and Albus finds he doesn’t even have it in him to tease Scorpius, again, for how much of a nerd he is. Instead, he simply falls face forward onto his bed and immediately closes his eyes. He feels rather than hears the quiet laughter that rumbles through Scorpius’ body as Scorpius slides into the side of Albus’ double bed he has claimed as his own.  

“Thank you for watching the meteors with me. I really enjoyed it.” Scorpius whispers as Albus curls up for the night. 

“Thanks for letting me know about it. I had fun too.” Albus whispers back without opening his eyes.  

Albus is drifting off to sleep for real when he thinks he feels Scorpius’ hand slip into his own and squeeze it tightly. He opens his eyes briefly but sees Scorpius has his own eyes closed, his hands curled in front of him like he always does when he’s asleep. Albus decides it must have been his sleep addled brain playing tricks on him, and closes his eyes again, drifting off quicker than he can ever remember. 

___

Albus wakes up later that morning earlier than Scorpius does (which is a  _very_  rare occurrence) but Albus supposes Scorpius isn’t used to going to sleep that late either.  

Instead of getting up like a rational person who isn’t in love with his best friend might, Albus stays in bed and watches Scorpius for a couple of minutes. Asleep, Scorpius is the most peaceful Albus has ever seen him; his face isn’t lined with stress or anxiety, his eyes not crinkled with sadness or pain. In this moment Scorpius is simply a fifteen year old boy who hasn’t been through hell and back in the past couple of years. Albus wishes with all his heart that Scorpius  _hadn’t_  been through what he has gone through; knows if someone offered it to him, Albus would take on all of Scorpius’ pain and anxieties and stresses in a heartbeat. And, he suddenly realises (apparently today is a day for realisation), Scorpius would probably do the same for him.  

Almost as though Scorpius can sense that Albus is watching him, he begins stirring from sleep and Albus sits up quickly, grabbing a book off his night stand, so it  _doesn’t_ look like he’s being a weirdo. 

“Good morning.” Scorpius mumbles, stretching on the bed cat-like, and Albus smiles at the sight. 

“Good morning.” Albus replies, and Scorpius squints up at him from where he is lying prostrate on the bed. 

“Makes a change for  _you_ to be reading and  _me_ being the one asleep.” Scorpius says with a grin, and Albus rolls his eyes before placing the book back, deciding not to correct Scorpius. Albus was hardly  _reading_. 

Scorpius is still looking up at him, and Albus can tell he is preparing to say something. 

“Did you really enjoy the meteor shower? I just know sometimes I can be a bit obsessed and you don’t always have to say yes when I ask you to do something, especially if you wouldn’t have wanted to do it if I hadn’t asked you-” Scorpius is clearly spiralling, and so Albus shuffles down until he is lying facing Scorpius and presses his finger to Scorpius’ lips. Scorpius immediately stops talking, and goes cross eyed for a second trying to look at Albus’ hand.  

“Scorpius, I promise I really enjoyed the meteor shower. I’m really glad you invited me to watch it. And I promise I would never force you into making me do anything I didn’t want to do.” Albus says, and Scorpius seems to relax with relief as Albus removes his finger. 

“Okay, good.” Scorpius smiles at him, and Albus smiles back. 

Scorpius flips around so he’s lying on his back again, seemingly settling in for a doze before he has to get up. At school, Scorpius is always the first to get up and start his day, but Albus has noticed from the few times they have stayed over at each other’s houses that Scorpius likes a lie in during the holidays; with the pressure of academia off him, he doesn’t mind spending half the morning in bed.  

Albus is more than happy to comply (he spends half the morning in bed anyway); also flips to settle on his back, and they lie side by side in companionable silence for a while.  

And Albus is waging a war inside his mind – he is  _very aware_  of how close Scorpius is to him, can feel the heat from his body and smell the lingering cologne from the night before and the very essence that is just his best friend. His  _best friend_. Who he is in love with. Albus can feel the swirl of emotions inside of him trying to get out – he has always been one for bottling his feelings until they explode out of him in a moment of anger or pain, much like they did with his father during  _that_  summer, but he never wants Scorpius to be in the firing line of himself.  

He also cannot bear the thought of telling Scorpius what he has realised, cannot bear the thought that Scorpius won’t feel the same way and he will be responsible for ruining the best thing in his life.  

He can feel his heart rate speed up at the thought of the opposite though; what if Scorpius  _does_  feel the same way? He remembers the feeling of Scorpius’ head on his shoulder the night before, the feeling of Scorpius’ hand in his (which he is still not convinced actually happened), the warm feeling he felt when he woke up this morning and saw Scorpius sleeping silently beside him. He knows he needs to say something. 

Although he is not a Gryffindor, Albus can still be brave sometimes.  

“I realised something last night Scorpius.” Albus says before he can stop himself and decide it’s a bad idea. 

“What did you realise?” Scorpius asks interestedly, looking over at Albus again.  

Albus doesn’t really know what to say next, just opens and closes his mouth like a fish as he stares at his best friend. He hadn’t thought this far ahead, and feels doubt and regret start creeping through him.  

“Okay, good talk Albus.” Scorpius says, laughing and making to get out of bed, when it becomes clear Albus isn’t going to answer him.  

“No wait!” Albus exclaims, tugging Scorpius back by the hand. Scorpius sits down and looks at him expectantly. Albus wriggles upright again so he can sit next to Scorpius.  

“Just bear with me a second.” Albus instructs, pressing his fingers to his temples for a moment and cursing himself for being so stupid as to open his mouth in the first place. 

But he knows he  _needs_  to talk to Scorpius about what he realised on the rooftop, knows that if he doesn’t he will let it fester inside of him until it’s an ugly, all-encompassing spike of emotion he can’t contain. If he expresses himself now, succinctly and calmly, he can prevent himself from months (possibly even years) of emotional turmoil.  

Albus closes his eyes because he thinks it will make it easier if Scorpius looks at him with disgust and horror when he’s finished talking. “Okay. I’m going to say something now and I want you to absolutely not feel any pressure to say anything back if you don’t want to. In fact if you just want to get up and leave, that’s fine. And you know you’re my best friend in the whole world but I just need you to know-”  

“I love you too.” Scorpius interrupts Albus quietly. Albus’ eyes fly open and he looks at Scorpius in shock. 

“What?”  

Scorpius immediately blanches. “Oh Merlin that’s not what you were going to say was it? Albus I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it. No wait, yes I did mean it, but I never wanted to tell you because I didn’t want to ruin this because you’re  _my_ best friend too and that’s more important than  _anything_.” 

“You did mean it?” Albus picks up on the bit of that speech that stands out to him.  

“I’ve always meant it. It’s always been you Albus.” Scorpius whispers, biting his lip.  

And Albus throws caution to the wind for the second time that morning; launches himself at Scorpius and flings his arms round Scorpius’ neck as he joins their lips together. Scorpius makes a muffled sound of surprise against Albus’ mouth before he starts kissing him back, his hands finding the curves of Albus’ waist to hold.  

They are only kissing for a matter of seconds (which is definitely  _not_ long enough in Albus’ opinion) before Scorpius pulls away from him. 

“Hang on what’s happening?” Scorpius’ voice is quiet and scared and Albus realises he may have made a mistake by acting first instead of speaking. He moves his hands so he’s cupping Scorpius’ face and looks into Scorpius’ grey eyes, feeling that overwhelming sense of love and protectiveness rush through him that makes his head spin. 

“Sorry, I thought that was obvious. I love you.” Albus’ voice is almost as quiet as Scorpius’, but comes out firm and leaves no room for argument or doubt.  

Scorpius lets out a shaky breath, and then grins. “Okay, good. And just for the record that was not obvious.”  

“Well, maybe I should make a better job of showing you then?” 

“I think you should!” Scorpius is mock indignant and Albus laughs, before leaning in to rub his nose against Scorpius’ and then to join their lips together again in a soft kiss.  

When they go downstairs, a couple of hours later and hand-in-hand, Ginny gives Albus one of the photographs she took whilst they were watching the meteor shower. As Albus looks at it, his heart swells with love again. It’s perfect - Scorpius is staring in wide eyed wonder at the sky; and Albus is staring in wide eyed wonder at Scorpius. 

\---

Years later, Albus and Scorpius’ children and grandchildren will ask Albus when he realised he was in love with his best friend. And Albus will hand them the photograph, and tell them the story of a boy with stardust in his eyes, who still smiles so brightly it puts the night sky to shame. 

**Author's Note:**

> our sweet boys deserve to be in love sorry i don't make the rules. Title inspired by ‘Starman’ by David Bowie.  
> So, I tried one POV for the whole thing this time and i think i liked it!  
> Thanks for reading!  
> You can find me on twitter at: @scorperion21


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